Cost of studying in Australia from Nepal

Before a subclass 500 student visa is granted, the Department of Home Affairs asks for one exact figure: AUD 29,710, the amount it says covers twelve months of living costs for a student with no one accompanying them. At Nepal Rastra Bank's published selling rate of NPR 106.37 per Australian dollar as of 21 October 2026, that is roughly NPR 31.60 lakh. Tuition and return travel are added on top of that figure, and neither of those is a single government number: tuition is set by the institution and travel by the ticket.

This is the guide to the one number Home Affairs actually sets, what it does and does not include, and how the whole total works out in rupees.

The AUD 29,710 figure, and what it is meant to prove

Home Affairs publishes a minimum you must show before it will grant a student visa: twelve months of living costs for yourself, twelve months of your course fees (or the pro-rated figure if your course runs less than a year), and your return travel. The living-cost component for the student alone is AUD 29,710. If your course is shorter than a year, the figure is pro-rated: divide the annual amount by 365 and multiply by the number of days you intend to stay.

In rupee terms, using the Nepal Rastra Bank rate most Nepali banks reference when they sell Australian dollars:

• AUD 29,710 a year is approximately NPR 31.60 lakh

Home Affairs reviews this figure periodically, and it has risen more than once in recent years, so confirm the current amount on its own site before you rely on it for an application that is still months away. Nepal Rastra Bank's AUD rate also moves week to week, so check it again close to when you actually remit rather than planning around a figure checked today.

Bringing a partner or a child changes the total

The AUD 29,710 figure is for the student alone. If a partner is coming with you, Home Affairs adds AUD 10,394 for the same twelve months. A child adds AUD 4,449. A school-age child who will be enrolled in school adds a further schooling cost, priced separately from the living-cost figure rather than folded into it. None of these are optional extras to estimate yourself: they are the same kind of fixed annual figure as the student amount, and all of them move in rupee terms whenever Nepal Rastra Bank's rate does.

The alternative: a parent's or partner's income instead of a bank balance

Home Affairs does not require every applicant to produce a lump sum sitting in an account. As an alternative, it accepts evidence that a parent or a partner had a personal annual income of at least AUD 87,856 in the twelve months before the application, or AUD 102,500 if family members are travelling with the student. Where both parents work, their combined income can be used. This route suits a family whose income is steady and documentable through tax records but whose savings are not sitting in one place, which is a common shape for a Nepali household supporting a child abroad.

Tuition and travel: why there is no single figure here

Unlike the living-cost requirement, Home Affairs does not set a national tuition number, because tuition is priced by each institution and varies by course and level. The cost calculator carries a working tuition and living-cost range for Australia alongside five other destinations, built for estimating rather than for a visa application. Use your own offer letter for the figure a visa application actually needs, and the calculator for the planning conversation before an offer exists.

Return travel works the same way: Home Affairs asks you to budget for it as part of the minimum, but the number is whatever your actual ticket costs, not a fixed government figure.

Funds that exist but are not "genuinely available"

A total that matches the figure on paper is not automatically enough. Home Affairs reads the evidence against a broader test of whether the money is genuinely available to the applicant, not only whether the total adds up. A balance in a relative's account that has never moved, or one assembled in the weeks before lodging, is read as weaker evidence than an account with a settled history, even when both show the same number. This is also where the Genuine Student requirement and the funds requirement meet: an officer reading a file that shows the right total but a thin history is reading the same signal twice. The refusal patterns this produces, and how they connect to the Genuine Student questions specifically, are covered in full on Studying in Australia from Nepal.

The NOC, and why it still applies

None of the above replaces Nepal's own requirement. Before a Nepali bank can legally remit tuition or living funds abroad, the No Objection Certificate from the Ministry of Education has to be in place first, and it runs alongside the Home Affairs process rather than instead of it. The full process, in order, is in the NOC guide.

What to do with this number

Hold AUD 29,710 for yourself, plus AUD 10,394 and AUD 4,449 for a partner or child who is coming with you, and treat the evidence of where that money came from as seriously as the total itself. Tuition and travel are real costs on top of that figure but they are not government-set numbers, so get them from your own offer letter and ticket rather than an estimate. Everything else, from OSHC to the cost of settling into a city before any income starts, is a planning number you set yourself, and the Home Affairs funds requirement is deliberately not designed to cover it.